Showing papers on "Natural disaster published in 2020"

State of the research in community resilience: progress and challenges.

Abstract: Community resilience has been addressed across multiple disciplines including environmental sciences, engineering, sociology, psychology, and economics. Interest in community resilience gained momentum following several key natural and human-caused hazards in the United States and worldwide. To date, a comprehensive community resilience model that encompasses the performance of all the physical and socio-economic components from immediate impact through the recovery phase of a natural disaster has not been available. This paper summarizes a literature review of previous community resilience studies with a focus on natural hazards, which includes primarily models of individual infrastructure systems, their interdependencies, and community economic and social systems. A series of national and international initiatives aimed at community resilience are also summarized in this study. This paper suggests extensions of existing modeling methodologies aimed at developing an improved, integrated understanding of resilience that can be used by policy-makers in preparation for future events.

From Poverty to Disaster and Back: a Review of the Literature

Abstract: Poor people are disproportionally affected by natural hazards and disasters. This paper provides a review of the multiple factors that explain why this is the case. It explores the role of exposure (often, but not always, poor people are more likely to be affected by hazards), vulnerability (when they are affected, poor people tend to lose a larger fraction of their wealth), and socio-economic resilience (poor people have a lower ability to cope with and recover from disaster impacts). Finally, the paper highlights the vicious circle between poverty and disaster losses: poverty is a major driver of people’s vulnerability to natural disasters, which in turn increase poverty in a measurable and significant way. The main policy implication is that poverty reduction can be considered as disaster risk management, and disaster risk management can be considered as poverty reduction.

Tourism resilience in the context of integrated destination and disaster management (DM2)

Abstract: The disaster management principles should be integrated into the destination management plans to enhance resilience of tourist destinations to natural disasters. The success of such integration depends on the extent of tourism stakeholder collaboration, but this topic remains understudied, especially in the Caribbean. This paper evaluates tourism resilience in Grenada. It finds that local tourism stakeholders are well aware of the potential damage natural disasters can inflict on the destination but fail to develop effective measures to build destination-wide and organizational resilience. The paper proposes an action framework to aid tourism stakeholders in Grenada to more effectively plan for disasters.

Twitter speaks: A case of national disaster situational awareness:

Abstract: In recent years, we have been faced with a series of natural disasters causing a tremendous amount of financial, environmental and human losses. The unpredictable nature of natural disasters behavi...

A multi-hazards earth science perspective on the COVID-19 pandemic: the potential for concurrent and cascading crises.

Abstract: Meteorological and geophysical hazards will concur and interact with coronavirus disease (COVID-19) impacts in many regions on Earth. These interactions will challenge the resilience of societies and systems. A comparison of plausible COVID-19 epidemic trajectories with multi-hazard time-series curves enables delineation of multi-hazard scenarios for selected countries (United States, China, Australia, Bangladesh) and regions (Texas). In multi-hazard crises, governments and other responding agents may be required to make complex, highly compromised, hierarchical decisions aimed to balance COVID-19 risks and protocols with disaster response and recovery operations. Contemporary socioeconomic changes (e.g. reducing risk mitigation measures, lowering restrictions on human activity to stimulate economic recovery) may alter COVID-19 epidemiological dynamics and increase future risks relating to natural hazards and COVID-19 interactions. For example, the aggregation of evacuees into communal environments and increased demand on medical, economic, and infrastructural capacity associated with natural hazard impacts may increase COVID-19 exposure risks and vulnerabilities. COVID-19 epidemiologic conditions at the time of a natural hazard event might also influence the characteristics of emergency and humanitarian responses (e.g. evacuation and sheltering procedures, resource availability, implementation modalities, and assistance types). A simple epidemic phenomenological model with a concurrent disaster event predicts a greater infection rate following events during the pre-infection rate peak period compared with post-peak events, highlighting the need for enacting COVID-19 counter measures in advance of seasonal increases in natural hazards. Inclusion of natural hazard inputs into COVID-19 epidemiological models could enhance the evidence base for informing contemporary policy across diverse multi-hazard scenarios, defining and addressing gaps in disaster preparedness strategies and resourcing, and implementing a future-planning systems approach into contemporary COVID-19 mitigation strategies. Our recommendations may assist governments and their advisors to develop risk reduction strategies for natural and cascading hazards during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Disaster resiliency of U.S. local governments: Insights to strengthen local response and recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Abstract: This research presents implications of the global pandemic on local government resiliency in the United States. We explore insights from local government officials and managers at the frontlines of response and recovery efforts to the biological natural disaster. Also, findings from the latest nationwide survey of U.S. local governments regarding their preparedness for weather-related natural disasters informs responses to the current crisis. Results indicate that local governments are innovating and taking strategic actions to fight the virus. This, even though COVID-19 has exposed social inequities exacerbated as the virus spreads. Survey findings of disaster readiness of local governments to weather-related disasters shows that small, resource poor governments will not be able to respond well, and social inequities will grow. Policy strategies at all levels of government must recognize and account for these inequities as threat of this virus subsides, to support stronger, more effective readiness for the next biological catastrophe. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

Multi-hazard disaster studies: monitoring, detection, recovery, and management, based on emerging technologies and optimal techniques

Abstract: Every year man-made and natural disasters impact the lives of millions of people. The frequency of occurrence of such disasters is steadily increasing since the last 50 years, and this has resulted in considerable loss of life, destruction of infrastructure, and social and economic disruption. A focussed and comprehensive solution is needed encompassing all aspects, including early detection of disaster scenarios, prevention, recovery, and management to minimize the losses. This survey paper presents a critical analysis of the existing methods and technologies that are relevant to a disaster scenario, such as WSN, remote sensing technique, artificial intelligence, IoT, UAV, and satellite imagery, to encounter the issues associated with disaster monitoring, detection, and management. In case of emergency conditions arising out of a typical disaster scenario, there is a strong likelihood that the communication networks will be partially disrupted; thus the alternate networks can play a vital role in disaster detection and management. It focuses on the role of the alternate networks and the associated technologies in maintaining connectivity in various disaster scenarios. It presents a comprehensive study on multiple disasters such as landslide, forest fire, and an earthquake based on the latest technologies to monitor, detect, and manage the various disasters. It focuses on several parameters that are necessary for disaster detection and monitoring and offers appropriate solutions. It also touches upon big data analytics for disaster management. Several techniques are explored, along with their merits and demerits. Open challenges are highlighted, and possible future directions are given.

Natural Disasters As A Source Of Entrepreneurial Opportunity: Family Business Resilience After An Earthquake

Abstract: RESEARCH SUMMARY What type of firms are more likely to survive or even thrive in disaster events such as earthquakes, wildfires, and the COVID-19 pandemic? We investigate whether family ownership and industry positioning affect firms' ability to capture opportunities for business recovery after a natural disaster We analyze the performance of Italian family and nonfamily firms around a disastrous earthquake in 2009 Following the earthquake, family firms performed better than nonfamily firms, especially when multiple family members were involved as owners Moreover, family ownership is beneficial in industries highly dependent on the public sector Our findings provide evidence on the superior resilience of family firms by illustrating the characteristics that allow firms hit by disaster events to seize posttraumatic entrepreneurial opportunities for recovery and growth MANAGERIAL SUMMARY The purpose of this study was to understand whether a possible explanation of family firms' superior longevity is their resilience to mass emergencies and their ability to transform post-crisis threats into entrepreneurial opportunities We found that family firms performed better than their non-family peers after the earthquake that hit Central Italy, and especially the area around L'Aquila, in 2009 During disaster events, family ownership resources?focused on the long term and the desire to transfer the business to future generations?provide the firm with the social and emotional capital needed to address the hardship Moreover, family firms that operated in industries closer to the public demand leveraged the family proximity to politics, further enhancing the processes of recovery and opportunity identification This article is protected by copyright All rights reserved

Use of social media in crisis management: A survey

Abstract: Emergency situations arising out of natural disasters like tsunami, earthquakes, floods, hurricanes or man-made ones like terror strikes, riots, accidents, etc. cause tremendous social and economic loss and badly affect the poor in low-income economies, in particular. In this paper, we attempt to see and analyze the relationship between emergencies and online social media, especially Twitter, Facebook, and Youtube. Specifically, we look at three important issues. First, we try to see the effect of occurrence of emergencies on social media. Second, when there is a sudden surge of posts in social media due to the occurrence, how that deluge of data can be effectively extracted and processed to create situational awareness and minimize the damage due to the disaster. Third, how different social media posts can help different government and other agencies to get prepared and to take necessary steps to manage emergencies in order to minimize the loss. In this survey, the papers centered around emergencies and its effect on social media and different organizations related to crisis management are considered that are published in the past decade.

Epidemics and Trust: The Case of the Spanish Flu

Abstract: Recent studies argue that major crises can have long lasting effects on individual behavior. While most studies focused on natural disasters, we explore the consequences of the global pandemic caused by a lethal influenza virus in 1918-19: the so-called “Spanish Flu”. This was by far the worst pandemic of modern history, causing up to 100 million deaths worldwide. Using information about attitudes of respondents to the General Social Survey (GSS), we find evidence that experiencing the pandemic likely had permanent consequences in terms of individuals’ social trust. Our findings suggest that lower social trust was passed on to the descendants of the survivors of the Spanish Flu who migrated to the US. As trust is a crucial factor for long-term economic development, our research offers a new angle from which to assess current health threats. JEL Classification: I15, N3, Z1 Keywords: Epidemic, Generalized trust, Spanish flu, Pandemic, Mortality crisis

Human–Environment Natural Disasters Interconnection in China: A Review

Abstract: This study aimed to assess the interrelationship among extreme natural events and their impacts on environments and humans through a systematic and quantitative review based on the up-to-date scientific literature. Namely, the main goal was to add additional knowledge to the existing evidence of the impacts related to floods, droughts, and landslides on humans and the environment in China; this in order to identify knowledge gaps in research and practice to aid in improving the adaptation and mitigation measures against extreme natural events in China. In this study, 110 documents were analyzed in the evaluation of several impacts triggered by extreme events. Records were obtained from Scopus and Web of Science and examined with a text mining instrument to assess the pattern of publications over the years; the problems linked to extreme weather events were investigated, and the study gaps were discussed. This paper extends work by systematically reviewing recent evidence related to floods, droughts, and landslides in China. We listed the critical studies that focused on the impact of extreme events on both humans and the environment described in current reviews. The findings revealed that goods safety, social safety, and financial losses are of significant concern to the scientific community due to extreme natural events, which from our analysis resulted in being more frequent and intense. It is still underdeveloped to implement distant sensing and imaging methods to monitor and detect the impact of severe weather occurrences. There are still significant study gaps in the fields of the effects of extreme weather events. The analysis result shows that extreme events are increased during the time, so more in-depth investigation and efforts on adaptation, mitigation measures, and strategical governance plans are desperately required.

Quantification of disaster impacts through household well-being losses

Abstract: Natural disaster risk assessments typically consider environmental hazard and physical damage, neglecting to quantify how asset losses affect households’ well-being. However, for a given asset loss, a wealthy household might quickly recover, while a poor household might suffer major, long-lasting impacts. This research proposes a methodology to quantify disaster impacts more equitably by integrating the three pillars of sustainability: environmental (hazard and asset damage), economic (macro-economic changes in production and employment) and social (disaster recovery at the household level). The model innovates by assessing the impacts of disasters on people’s consumption, considering asset losses and changes in income, among other factors. We apply the model to a hypothetical earthquake in the San Francisco Bay Area, considering the differential impact of consumption loss on households of varying wealth. The analysis reveals that poorer households suffer 19% of the asset losses but 41% of the well-being losses. Furthermore, we demonstrate that the effectiveness of specific policies varies across cities (depending on their built environment and social and economic profiles) and income groups. Natural disaster risk assessments neglect impacts on households’ well-being. A model to quantify disaster impacts more equitably shows that, in a hypothetical earthquake in the San Francisco Bay Area, poorer households suffer 19% of the asset losses but 41% of the well-being losses.

Tourism and natural disaster management process: perception of tourism stakeholders in the case of Kumamoto earthquake in Japan

Abstract: Tourism has a reciprocal relationship with natural disasters. The study aims to investigate the role of tourism as a strategy in the disaster phases based on (2001. Towards a framework for tourism ...

Conceptual Framework of an Intelligent Decision Support System for Smart City Disaster Management

Abstract: In order to protect human lives and infrastructure, as well as to minimize the risk of damage, it is important to predict and respond to natural disasters in advance. However, currently, the standardized disaster response system in South Korea still needs further advancement, and the response phase systems need to be improved to ensure that they are properly equipped to cope with natural disasters. Existing studies on intelligent disaster management systems (IDSSs) in South Korea have focused only on storms, floods, and earthquakes, and they have not used past data. This research proposes a new conceptual framework of an IDSS for disaster management, with particular attention paid to wildfires and cold/heat waves. The IDSS uses big data collected from open application programming interface (API) and artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms to help decision-makers make faster and more accurate decisions. In addition, a simple example of the use of a convolutional neural network (CNN) to detect fire in surveillance video has been developed, which can be used for automatic fire detection and provide an appropriate response. The system will also consider connecting to open source intelligence (OSINT) to identify vulnerabilities, mitigate risks, and develop more robust security policies than those currently in place to prevent cyber-attacks.

Safety or Travel: Which Is More Important? The Impact of Disaster Events on Tourism

Abstract: Tourism is making an increasingly considerable contribution to the sustainable development of world economy, but its development is susceptible to a series of disaster events. The impact of disaster events on tourists’ travel decisions is receiving ever-growing attention. In this study, disasters are classified into two categories: namely, natural disasters and man-made disasters. Among these disasters, earthquakes and terrorist attacks—as the most representative two types—are taken as research examples. By virtue of a difference-in-difference research method and online review data from TripAdvisor, multiple incidents that have occurred in different countries are systematically and comparatively analyzed for verifying the effects of catastrophic events with varying natures, frequencies, and intensities on tourism. The main findings are as follows: (1) both natural disasters and man-made disasters have a negative effect on the number of tourists and the tourist experience; (2) higher frequency and intensity of terrorist attacks may not correspond to tourism, and terrorist attacks exert a more influential impact on the safety image of tourist destinations; (3) compared with the scale and intensity of earthquakes, the frequency of earthquakes has a greater effect on tourism; (4) compared with terrorist attacks, earthquakes have a greater effect on the number of tourists.

Natural Hazards, Disasters, and Demographic Change: The Case of Severe Tornadoes in the United States, 1980-2010.

Abstract: Natural hazards and disasters distress populations and inflict damage on the built environment, but existing studies yielded mixed results regarding their lasting demographic implications. I leverage variation across three decades of block group exposure to an exogenous and acute natural hazard-severe tornadoes-to focus conceptually on social vulnerability and to empirically assess local net demographic change. Using matching techniques and a difference-in-difference estimator, I find that severe tornadoes result in no net change in local population size but lead to compositional changes, whereby affected neighborhoods become more White and socioeconomically advantaged. Moderation models show that the effects are exacerbated for wealthier communities and that a federal disaster declaration does not mitigate the effects. I interpret the empirical findings as evidence of a displacement process by which economically disadvantaged residents are forcibly mobile, and economically advantaged and White locals rebuild rather than relocate. To make sense of demographic change after natural hazards, I advance an unequal replacement of social vulnerability framework that considers hazard attributes, geographic scale, and impacted local context. I conclude that the natural environment is consequential for the sociospatial organization of communities and that a disaster declaration has little impact on mitigating this driver of neighborhood inequality.

Tsunami damage detection with remote sensing: A review

Abstract: Tsunamis are rare events compared with the other natural disasters, but once it happens, it can be extremely devastating to the coastal communities. Extensive inland penetration of tsunamis may cause the difficulties of understanding its impact in the aftermath of its generation. Therefore the social needs to technologies of detecting the wide impact of great tsunamis have been increased. Recent advances of remote sensing and technologies of image analysis meet the above needs and lead to more rapid and efficient understanding of tsunami affected areas. This paper provides a review of how remote sensing methods have developed to contribute to post-tsunami disaster response. The evaluations in the performances of the remote sensing methods are discussed according to the needs of tsunami disaster response with future perspective.

Flood Risk and the U.S. Housing Market

Abstract: Flooding is the most frequent and costliest natural disaster in the United States, yet most households are uninsured or underinsured against flood and may incorrectly expect that government agencie...

Quantifying the economic impact of disasters on businesses using human mobility data: a Bayesian causal inference approach

Abstract: In recent years, extreme shocks, such as natural disasters, are increasing in both frequency and intensity, causing significant economic loss to many cities around the world. Quantifying the economic cost of local businesses after extreme shocks is important for post-disaster assessment and pre-disaster planning. Conventionally, surveys have been the primary source of data used to quantify damages inflicted on businesses by disasters. However, surveys often suffer from high cost and long time for implementation, spatio-temporal sparsity in observations, and limitations in scalability. Recently, large scale human mobility data (e.g. mobile phone GPS) have been used to observe and analyze human mobility patterns in an unprecedented spatio-temporal granularity and scale. In this work, we use location data collected from mobile phones to estimate and analyze the causal impact of hurricanes on business performance. To quantify the causal impact of the disaster, we use a Bayesian structural time series model to predict the counterfactual performances of affected businesses (what if the disaster did not occur?), which may use performances of other businesses outside the disaster areas as covariates. The method is tested to quantify the resilience of 635 businesses across 9 categories in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria. Furthermore, hierarchical Bayesian models are used to reveal the effect of business characteristics such as location and category on the long-term resilience of businesses. The study presents a novel and more efficient method to quantify business resilience, which could assist policy makers in disaster preparation and relief processes.

Metamorphosis from local knowledge to involuted disaster knowledge for disaster governance in a landslide-prone tribal community in Taiwan

Abstract: This study aimed to elucidate local knowledge that might be used to reduce disaster risks and what, if anything, changes when local knowledge is influenced by external knowledge. Qualitative data drawn from semi-structured interviews and a workshop were analyzed to study a Taiwanese indigenous tribal community. We found that disaster experiences sharpened people's abilities to detect changes in terrain, hydrology, flora, and fauna, thereby enabling them to identify disaster risks. This local knowledge could improve early warning of an impending disaster. People also used invisible local knowledge (e.g., social relations and experiences) to build their capacities to respond to disasters. We propose involuted disaster knowledge as a new type of knowledge that integrates local knowledge with scientific knowledge through an involution process. Therefore, involuted (local) disaster knowledge functions to interpret the government's perspective based on the reality known to the local people, which could help governmental disaster management succeed in meeting community-level needs. It also functions for understanding the language used by community residents, which minimizes power inequalities in the disaster governance process. We recommend recognizing local knowledge and using it in disaster management because it might help to effectively reduce the negative effects of natural disasters. Involution could help expand local knowledge's capacity for changing the environment that further benefits both local people and the government. Participatory workshops are recommended for integrating local knowledge and governmental scientific-based knowledge as well as formulating disaster risk management with community characteristics.

A review of the flood hazard and risk management in the South Asian Region, particularly Pakistan

Abstract: Communities are being menaced by floods since ages. Flood occurrence not only imposes loss to the infrastructure and property but it also claims thousands of lives and leave millions homeless. Floods occur due to hydro-metrological and natural factors, however in recent years, human intervention has added new dimensions to it. South Asia's geography makes it susceptible to natural disasters and the most flood vulnerable regions in the world. In addition to this, countries in this region exhibit a high level of vulnerability unfortunately due to lack of resources, namely adaptive as well as coping capacities. Pakistan in particular, has a long history of floods. The country has witnessed almost 19 major flood events resulting into a cumulative flooding of over 594,700 km2 area with 166,075 villages affected and a total direct cumulative losses to the tune of about US $ 30 billion that ended up into the loss of 10,668 precious lives in the past 60 years. However, the floods of 2010 and 2011 were the most devastating. The national flood policy has been enhanced through several federal and provincial acts since the country came into existence. Unfortunately, there has not been reported any major reduction in the flood-to-damage ratio. Herein a brief review has been carried out that ponders on the current state of knowledge of the topic, particularly the nature of flood in the South Asian region, mainly Pakistan.

Thirty Years of Science, Technology, and Academia in Disaster Risk Reduction and Emerging Responsibilities

Abstract: The 1990 initiation of the International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction marked its 30th year in 2019. The three decades since then have seen significant developments in science and technology and their incorporation into the decision making in the field of disaster risk reduction. The disasters that have occurred during that time have enhanced the importance of the field, and new research and innovations have evolved. This article summarizes this evolution through the review of specific milestones. While the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015–2030 provides opportunities for synergies with the sustainable development agenda, the science and technology communities have also changed their roles from advisory to co-designing and co-delivering solutions. Higher education plays an important role in developing new generations of professionals, and the role of thematic incubation in higher education institutions is highlighted along with the development of the professional society in disaster risk reduction. The evolution from Society 4.0 (information age) to Society 5.0 will see an enhanced role of the technology-driven approach in disaster risk reduction, while traditional knowledge and indigenous technologies still remain valid for society. Scientists and science communities need to be more sensitive to changing the “last mile” concept to “first mile” thinking with respect to the users’ needs and perspectives.